Big Love's Started Young
by GreatTheWayIAm
Summary: This is the love story of Rephaim and Stevie Rae beginning on sweet three-years-old little Rephaim's first day in kindergarten.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, here comes a new story. I know I should probably wait until I got a little farther in my others but the idea for this story popped into my mind. I think it's going to be about how Rephaim and Stevie Rae first met and how their relationship will develop, but I'm not completely sure yet.**

**Okay, first things first, to prevent everyone from any kind of confusion: Rephaim is 3 years old in this story and Stevie Rae 2.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own House of Night.**

**~ Nessie**

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**Chapter One – Arrival**

Many children, so Rephaim knew, would dress up as natives for carnival or Halloween. He wouldn't. Simply because he didn't need to. He was a native by birth and so he tend to look down on those that would use his origins as a costume. People never could get their eyes off the little boy with the raven-black hair, the amber eyes and the dark- almost reddish- skin. His foreign looks seemed to fascinate all the people around him.

Rephaim sighed. He was currently sitting in the car with his father and mother in the front driving him to his first day in kindergarten. His little brother Nisroc had come, too, but that was merely because he was only four months old. He was sleeping. Rephaim would often watch his brother sleeping. Nobody ever wanted him to do anything and nobody would ever get mad at him because he still was a baby. Rephaim had learned that babies were never to blame for anything. He wondered why though. The only thing his parents continued complaining about was that he would always wake them. Rephaim didn't understand what they were talking about. He always slept well. He would go to bed a time his parents called at 6 and seemed to wake up the same time in the morning. It confused him a little that they said that. How could he wake up and fall asleep the same time? One was in the morning and one was in the evening, or was he wrong? He decided he would still figure that out.

His father was driving and his mother turned around, checking on Nisroc and then faced Rephaim. "Now sweetie, don't pull such a face! Aren't you looking forward to go to kindergarten?"

"No.", Rephaim merely responded. He didn't want to go to kindergarten. Who would want to go to a place with dozens of noisy children all around? Rephaim had never liked children- despite being a child himself. He avoided them and stayed in his room most of the time. The only time he would leave the house everyday was Nisroc's daily walk. He would have prefered to go out alone but his parent wouldn't let him. He was only three.

His mother frowned. "Kalona, wouldn't you like to say something to your son?" It was a question but it didn't sound like one. Rephaim knew that his father needed to answer. She would always use the same tone on him when he didn't want to eat his vegetables. He never had a real choice.

His eyes never leaving the street Kalona spoke up. His strong voice sounded relaxed. The man never let anything anger him in the mornings. _He'd probably even let the house burn down at this rate, _Rephaim thought. "You don't want to go to kindergarten, Rephaim?"

"I don't want to.", Rephaim answered even though he knew his father didn't expect him to answer.

"But you do know you where allowed to stay at home two years longer than you should have? You need to learn about social contacts, my son."

"I don't!". Rephaim knew he sounded stubborn, but he didn't care. He didn't even know what these _social contacts_ were so why would he need them? **And**, most important, he didn't want to go. Easy! Kalona's voice sharpened as he spoke up again. "You should better appreciate my efforts, Rephaim. This is already settled, you will go to kindergarten."

"Hmpf" The little boy turned his head away, defeated. And so the drive continued. No one talked, only his mother would turn her head once or twice to check on her boys. Rephaim had gotten tired and dreamy from the long drive so that he was really surprised when the car suddenly stopped. They had arrived.

The young native hopped out of the car and shot the colorful building a glare. He thought to see his father rising an eyebrow at him as he did, but he didn't care. When his mother had finally managed to get his baby-brother they all started walking towards the building's entrance. As soon as his father had opened the door a huge wave of chaotic loud voices reached the boy's ears. Rephaim felt the strong urge to flee from the long colorful floor. He didn't even see a child yet but there already was such a noise. He blocked his ears. He fallowed his parents threw half the corridor and stood next to them while they knocked on a door. A woman came out, she was still pretty young and Rephaim knew from the very first second that he didn't like her.

"Oh, there you are!", she exclaimed, and Rephaim wondered why she would be so excited. Facing him she said: "And you have to be Rephaim then. With his best poker-face on the little boy didn't respond. He merely nodded. She was staring at him like the whole rest of the world, and she had pronounced his name wrong. But these were not the things that made Rephaim dislike her so much. She wasn't only staring at him but was also gazing at his father all the time. Rephaim had spend all his life surrounded by adults and had studied their habits, and he knew what that meant. Not aware of any of his thoughts the woman blinked confused.

"So – why don't you go look around a little? I will finish talking to your parents and fallow you then." Rephaim didn't want her to fallow him, and he didn't like how she looked down on him. He remembered that his mother would always tell him he had to eat healthy food to grow up tall and strong. If he remembered he would later ask her how long that would take and if she could help him make that go faster. But for now it seemed he had no choice but to look up to her- not that he would look at her. He decided he would never unless he had to. So instead he looked up to his parents hoping they would decide to take him back home the last second, but both of them nodded, his mother kissed his forehead once more and then set him free. He instantly used his sleeve to wipe his mother's kiss away, but the same time he turned around and began _looking around_.

So here he was. His first day in kindergarten, his first steps into a knew world, a world that would change him forever.

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**Hihi. Of course it's not the knew world that will change him. You know whom I mean, don't you? And we're going to meat her next chapter. Imagine her at the age of two. Rephaim will have to deal with a very hyperactive knew _friend_.**

**Would you like me to continue the story? Please review and tell me.**

**~ Nessie**


	2. Meet

**Yay, holidays!** **Merry Christmas, everyone! =D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own House of Night. Unfortunately.**

**~ Nessie**

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**Chapter Two – Meet**

**Rephaim's pov**

At the right side of the corridor were rooms without doors. On the corridor's walls there were hooks with jackets and rucksacks hanging down from them. Above each hook was a picture of an animal and a shield with something written on it, the children's names, Rephaim assumed. One hook didn't have a jacket, Rephaim stepped closer to it. The animal in the picture was a raven with wide stretched black wings. That was going to be his hook, the little boy decided and to make sure no other child would take his place he hung his rucksack there. He would have done the same with his jacket but unfortunately Rephaim was yet not able to take it off by himself.

Since the little boy didn't know what else to do, he decided to enter one of the two rooms- despite the terrible noise coming from in there. Just as he entered the room, suddenly something crashed into him. Slightly confused the child tried keeping his balance. In front of him, on the ground, sat a little girl, who obviously hadn't been able to do the same. Her hair was dark and her eyes were filled with tears. She looked up to him and started to sob. Rephaim, however, had absolutely no intentions of helping the girl, talking to her or apologize even. It had not been his fault that she was running around without looking out for others. Silly girl.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" _Oh, great!_, Rephaim thought,_ now she's starting to cry!_ And like on cue everyone else in the room and outside on the, connected with the rooms, playground, instantly stopped doing what they were doing and stared at the scene the young native and the girl made. Then a woman rushed into the room. She sat next to the brunette girl and began calming her down:

"Zoey, sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Weeeeeeeheeeee weeehee!", the girl, Zoey seemed to be her name, cried. "Shhh, calm down. I can't understand you at all." Rephaim wondered where the woman got all that patience from. If she continued treating that little crybaby as she did, she would sure make her a spoiled brat.

"I- I feeell!", Zoey finally managed to got out between her sobs. An annoying sound, as Rephaim considered. The woman, however, ignored it. "Aha.", she said softly, turning her head to the little native boy she asked: "And how are you involved in this?"

"She bumped into me, fell and cried.", Rephaim merely responded. He didn't mean to make a big deal out of it. He just didn't consider the girl worth it. That moment suddenly a voice tuned up behind him, coming from a little blond girl, whose short curls bounced around her shiny blue eyes with every step she took. "Z!"

**Stevie Rae's pov**

Stevie Rae had been out on the playground when she suddenly heard her bff's cry. "Z!", she had screamed, running to make sure she was gonna be okay, immediately. But reaching the room she stopped abruptly, not able to take her eyes from the person behind her best friend. A boy. Stevie Rae stopped caring about what was with Zoey at that moment. She was two years old and still got easily distracted and that boy had captured all of her attention in that very second. His hair was black, there were black feathers braided into it. His eyes had a beautiful dark brown color and his skin had an unusual dark color, too. To many the look on his face might have appeared cold, not to Stevie Rae. She found he looked exotic. She really wanted to be his friend!

"Who're you?", she asked, passing Zoey and staring at him straightly. The boy tried to turn his head away. Why'd he do that? Oh well, Stevie Rae still was a child. She was so cute and innocent and did yet not understand why a boy might be embarrassed to have a girl coming so close- unlike the other kid.

The young native wanted to step back and flee, but he was too slow. Stevie Rae had grabbed his hands and beamed at him. "I'm Stevie Rae! You look funny, ya know? Why's your skin so dark?"

She felt him staring into her eyes, but he didn't talk to her. Maybe he was too shy, it was his first day here after all. She started to get disappointed, fearing he might not answer anymore. When she had almost lost all her hope, Stevie Rae was more than happy as the little boy in front of her finally opened his mouth. "Rephaim. My name is Rephaim. And my skin has the same color as of all my people. I'm a Cherokee-Indian." His voice trailed off at the last sentence, but Stevie Rae had heard him nevertheless.

"That's so cool!", the two-years-old exclaimed. She doubted that she would be able to remember either of the information, but she knew he had told her his name and that he was some sort of native, which meant: He wanted to be her friend, too! Yay!

"It is not cool. It is normal. I am normal.", he responded quietly. _Hm_, Stevie Rae thought,_ he doesn't seem to be much of a talker... No prob! Then he can listen to me talking even more!_ She beamed. She was brilliant! They would be awesome friends, for sure! "Wanna play with me?", she asked happily, making sure he'd agree by using her secret weapon at him, the puppy eyes. No respond, that was strange. Her puppy eyes used to work on everyone. She took a closer look at his face. Nothing had changed in his expression. It still seemed like he couldn't care less, or... not? Yep! One thing had changed! Just a minor detail, but Stevie Rae believed she had seen his eyes shine up a little when she made her offer.

Her beam had grown even bigger. "Take that a yes!", the two-years-old sang, dragging the boy out, to where she had come from before. She had completely forgotten about Zoey. The only thing running threw Stevie Rae's head was: _Yay, a new friend! New friend!_

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**Does it sound weird? I have the feeling it sounds weird... Next time you can see how Rephaim reacts on Stevie Rae and what he will tell his parents about her. ;)**

**Merry Christmas! =D**

**~ Nessie**


	3. Nothing To Tell

**Have I taken too long to update this story? If so I'm really sorry, please excuse. **

**Disclaimer: House of Night doesn't belong to me.**

**~Nessie**

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**Chapter Three – Nothing To Tell**

What was with this girl? She had just grabbed him and dragged him outside on the playground. Shouldn't she have stayed with her friend? They had only met, at last...he didn't know. Never before Rephaim had spent time with another child, count out his brother- Concerning her: she simply continued pulling his arm until they stood in front of a huge, very colorful climber. Finally letting go of the boy's arm- which had begun to hurt, by the way- she spun around, giving him the chance to see her beaming round face again. For some- to Rephaim completely unknown- reason he couldn't help staring at her. _Argh, it's just because I'm not used to see such childish face. Yes, it's just unusual to me, that's all!_

"Is something not okay?", she asked, tilting her head a little. _No. Nothing is okay,_ the boy thought. What was wrong with her? Dragging people around just like that and… and... Oh, why did this make him so upset? This, no, not this, **she**! It was her, or...at least... Rephaim was completely confused. He had never talked to somebody his age before! He couldn't handle a little girl! He didn't know how to react! What was he supposed to do now?

Where were his parents when he needed them? Why wouldn't anybody tell him what to do?

"Um, Rephaim?", he looked up, she seemed slightly worried and so he decided not to blame her for slightly swallowing the _I_ of his name. _Stupid thoughts! _Why did he continue spacing out? He was acting like a child! He wasn't just any stupid little boy. He wasn't! _And now answer, answer!_

Surprisingly Rephaim, eventually, managed to get some words out and could even concentrate on her and what she was blabbering for the rest of the day. Still, he was jolly glad when his father finally came to pick him up and take him home.

"How was your first day in kindergarten, my son?"

"I don't ever want to go again.", the three-years-old responded. His father watched him threw the mirror. Rephaim wanted to avoid his father's gaze, unfortunately he failed on his child seat. _Annoying thing!_ Luckily, Kalona had to focus on the street again so that Rephaim's little misery ended very soon.

Arrived home, the young native's day didn't promise to get better. Unlike him, Nisroc seemed to have had a good day- and good days were definitely rare with Nisroc. And now his mother was in the best mood for stories- Rephaim, on the other side, was most likely not. _That girl_ had made him talk enough for one day, he decided.

"So, how was kindergarten, my love?", she beamed. _As expected,_ the boy thought._ Now here we go again._

"Loud, messy, full of children.", Rephaim listed, passing his mother without even looking at her once.

"You are behaving bad, Rephaim, and I suggest you to change that.", his fathers voice stopped him. Kalona waited for his son to turn around and look at him, then he continued: "You might not like kindergarten, but as I told you this morning: You are going anyways!" The little boy said nothing. He was just looking up to his father, bothered and hurt.

"So,", his mother tried again. "Did something remarkable happen today?" Rephaim thought. Remarkable, what was the most remarkable thing that happened today? Immediately coming into his mind was an image, the image of a certain two-years-old with stunning eyes and..._ Stunning? _No, no, no, no, no! She wasn't stunning! She wasn't even remarkable. She was a nuisance! "Nothing, really.", he said. His parents didn't look convinced, yet they didn't seem to want wasting any more time questioning a child who obviously didn't want to talk.

His father nodded him away and Rephaim began climbing up the stairs to the second floor. He stopped at Nisroc's room, after having seen his baby brother sleeping tightly in his cot, he turned to his own. As he came in he walked straightly over to his bed. It was big, so that the little boy always had to struggle getting up there. He would always have to jump until he lied safe with his legs dangling free and then pull himself up on the heavy bedsheets. His father would always smile at that and his mother used to call it adorable. _Adults are really weird,_ Rephaim thought. Even though, by passing his time more with adults than with other children he had learned about things like kissing, holding hands... And it was **highly** embarrassing. That Stevie Rae girl had obviously not known about that. Well, she didn't have to- at least not yet. Nevertheless, Rephaim was definitely embarrassed.

Curling up in the corner of his bed Rephaim grabbed Sur. Most children had teddy bears or something like that. He hadn't. He had Sur. Sur was his favorite plush toy and the native boy owned him since his birth. The boy couldn't remember how the toy's actual name had been, whatever it had been, it was too hard to pronounce for Rephaim when he first started talking and so the name had become just Sur.

"Today was exhausting, Sur.", the little boy admitted. "And there is that girl. She-", he stopped. She what? He had to think of that first, cause there was no way he'd ever lie at his best friend! "She... is very nice." These words made little Rephaim smile and with the plush raven in his arms he fell asleep.

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**How was it? I was very confused with what I wrote here, I hope I fixed it well enough so that it makes sense now. ;)**

**Review please, it really doesn't hurt and it's always nice for me to get some feedback.**

**~Nessie**


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